Bravo on telling your Dad’s story! It must have been hard but please know that it was therapeutic for me, as well as many others, I suspect.

My mother died 21 years ago at Stanford Hospital after being admitted to the ER for a fever and not feeling well. It turns out that she had septicemia after her gall bladder tore a hole and started dumping poison into her bloodstream. She had surgery within hours and then spent 21 days in ICU on life support. There were seven of us kids to argue about treatment options and the doctors finally kindly advised us to let her go. My sister and I stayed with her until her last breath, holding her hands and each other’s. Since she had lived with me and my husband for the last 10 years, I kept the items that she handed over to me before her surgery; her glasses, her teeth, her watch and her cross necklace. I also have the itemized hospital bill for those 21 days, and 21 years ago it was $225,000.00. Medi-Cal paid all of it and I still have her teeth, glasses and the bill but shared the other items with my siblings.

Thanks for sharing so objectively and honestly. That story was very sweet and stayed with me for days. As busy as I am, here I sit composing this email.